Music Sales Sink to 1985 Levels. Did 1985 Really Suck or Something?

Sure, the papers are full of stories of gas prices shooting up and housing prices plummeting, but those are new phenomena compared to the steady declines in the fortunes of the record industry. The latest sales numbers show a decrease of 11% over last year - and that includes legal digital downloads.

1.86 billion albums (calculated at 10 songs per album), sold last year, which is the lowest number since 1985. Why that year? CDs were still new - and relatively expensive - and were just starting to catch on with consumers. LPs were on the way out and while the portability of cassettes was great, the quality and durability was pretty awful.

The number one selling album of 1985: Springsteen's Born in the USA. For 2007: Josh Groban's Noël... That's right a Christmas album. On that little one on one match up, 1985 comes out looking pretty good.

MTV managed to encapsulate the best and worst of music almost at the same time.

If you were living in LA at the time, KROQ also gave you an alternative to Don Henley and Jefferson Starship, bless their hearts. Here's what Freddy Snakeskin and Richard Blade were playing on the Roq in '85

News reports also tend to have not changed at all either. From today's NME:

Bono, Bob Geldof push for more African aid. The more things change...

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